Reston Casino: Developer CEO's Relative Donates $1M To VA Candidates

RESTON, VA — Since 2012, Dwight Schar, a former partial owner of the Washington Commanders and founder of home building firm NVR, Inc., has donated more that $1 million to candidates running for office in Virginia, according to campaign finance filings.

Schar is also the father-in-law of Comstock CEO Chris Clemente, the company that owns a majority of the property immediately around the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station. Patch reported on Monday that Comstock wanted to build a casino at or near the Reston East Metro, according to several local officials.

Patch reported on Tuesday that Schar and Clemente were hosting fundraisers for state Sens. Dave Marsden (D-Burke), Scott Surovell (D-Alexandria), and Virginia House Minority Leader Don Scott (D-Portsmouth).

If Marsden, Scott, and Surovell, who many think will be the next majority leader in the senate, are reelected and the Democrats take back control of the house in November, Schar and Comstock will have helped to raise money for the leaders of both houses in the General Assembly and the senator who said he would likely reintroduce his casino bill during the 2024 legislative session.

Any money that Marsden, Scott, or Surovell make from the two Reston Station fundraisers should be reported in the next financial filing, which is Oct. 16. The final filing before the Nov. 7 election is Oct. 30.

In addition to indirectly helping the three lawmakers raise money for their campaigns by hosting the two fundraisers, Schar and Comstock have also directly supported candidates with donations.

From 2010 to 2023, Schar donated a total of $1,140,500 to candidates running for office in Virginia. The bulk of those donations went to GOP candidates or committees, according to campaign finance filings reported by the Virginia Public Access Project, or VPAP. The money was distributed as follows:

• $355,000 - Democratic Party
• $620,000 - Republican Party
• $165,000 - Other

In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed Senate Bill 36, which established a lottery board to regulate casinos. The bill limited casino gaming establishments to five communities that met specified criteria: the cities of Portsmouth, Richmond, Norfolk, Danville, and Bristol.

About that time, the distribution of Schar's donations changed. From 2019 to 2023, Schar's total reported contributions were $302,500. While the "Other" category garnered the most contributions, Republicans appeared to receive less than Democrats:

• $115,000 - Democratic Party
• $67,500 - Republican Party
• $120,000 - Other

From 2019 through 2023, Schar's donations in the "Other" category went to three entities:

• $100,000 - Main Street Virginia PAC (3/29/2021)
• $10,000 - Jonathan Fahey for Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney (11/12/2019)
• $10,000 - Levar Stoney for Richmond Mayor (11/12/2019)

In November 2019, Fahey lost his bid to be Fairfax County's commonwealth's attorney. Officially, candidates in the commonwealth's attorney race run as independents, but they can be endorsed by a political party. Levar Stoney also ran as in independent candidate in 2019.

Related: Casino Planned Near Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station By Comstock

Schar's $100,000 contribution to Main Street Virginia PAC could be seen as donation to the GOP, since it is a political action committee for the Republican leadership, according to VPAP. The donation is the second largest Main Street has received since 2012. The largest contribution was $124,500 from real estate developer Jon M. Peterson of the Peterson Companies.

The top five Democrats that Schar has contributed to from 2019 to 2023 were, according to VPAP:

• $50,000 - Terry McAuliffe for Governor (11/30/20)
• $30,000 - Richard Saslaw for Senate (2019-2022)
• $20,000 - Jeff McKay for Fairfax County Supervisors Chair (2019-2022)
• $10,000 - George Barker for Senate (6/8/23)
• $5,000 - Kathleen Murphy for Delegate (8/5/21)

Schar's $50,000 contribution to McAuliffe came in one lump sum a year before he lost to Republican Glenn Youngkin in the 2021 gubernatorial race.

Senate Majority Leader Saslaw received three payments of $10,000 from Schar over three years.

From 2019 to 2023, the top five donations Schar made to Republican candidates or GOP-related PACs were:

• $20,000 - Spirit of Virginia (Republican Leadership)
• $10,000 - Nick Clemente for Delegate
• $10,000 - Kirk Cox for Delegate
• $10,000 - Kirk Cox for Governor
• $10,000 - Patrick Herrity for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

Patch reached out to Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) about the $10,000 donation and whether it would influence his decision on building a casino at one of the Silver Line stations.

“Dwight Schar and Chris Clemente have been long time friends and supporters dating back to my involvement with the business community as a leader in the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce prior to my election as a supervisor," he told Patch on Thursday. "Their contributions to my campaign have nothing to do with the casino project."

Herrity added that talk about casinos, including riverboat gambling, has floated around Northern Virginia for years.

"I have not seen details of any specific proposal for a casino," he said. "I am aware of Senator Marsden's proposed legislation and like that fact that any decision would be decided by the people of Fairfax County in a referendum after a full review of the pros and cons of the proposal."

Between 2019 and 2023, Comstock Development Services LC donated a total of $132,277 to the committees of candidates running for office in Virginia, according to campaign finance filings reported by the Virginia Public Access Project. The donations were broken down as follows:

• $107,277 - Democratic Candidates
• $10,000 - Republican Candidates
• $15,000 - Other

The $15,000 in the "Other" category went to Main Street Virginia, a political action committee for the Republican leadership, according to VPAP.

A large portion of the $107,277 Comstock donated to Democrats, $87,277, went to Maggie Parker, who was a candidate in the 2019 Hunter Mill District supervisor's race. The donation was not surprising, since Parker has been a long-time employee of Comstock Companies, according to her LinkedIn profile.

In the 2019 Democratic Party primary, Parker lost her bid to become the Hunter Mill District supervisor to Walter Alcorn, who won the seat the following November.

Related: Developer Brings Democratic Leaders To Site Of Planned Casino At Metro

The remaining $20,000 went to two Democratic candidates currently running for reelection. Comstock Development Services LC contributed $10,000 each to Marsden and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay (D), according to VPAP. The contributions were made two days after the June 20, 2023 Democratic Party primary.

When asked about the $10,000 contribution, McKay said in an email to Patch that he "did not engage in quid pro quo with campaign contributions of any kind."

Asked whether he would support a casino being built in Fairfax County, McKay said, "I do not have a position on a casino because no specific proposal for one has been submitted."

"As the law stands today, in order for any company to build a casino in Fairfax County, a referendum would need to be approved by Fairfax County voters," he said. "If that is approved, any proposal would still be subject to Fairfax County's full land use process including all comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance requirements and the associated public hearings. I would not support any effort to strip local authority from this process."

Marsden had a different response to the question about Comstock's $10,000 donation to his campaign committee.

"That was very nice of them," he said. "But the issue here is giving the county an option to take a look at something. That's not a part of my portfolio or my committee work down in Richmond. It's supporting my locality."

That may go some way toward explaining why Marsden, who represents Burke in the Virginia Senate, and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart) introduced similar casino bills in January, during the final days of the first half of the 2023 Virginia General Assembly session.

Even though Marsden and Williams each withdrew their bills within a few days, Marsden told Patch last Thursday that he was likely to reintroduce the bill in the next legislative session if he was reelected. He is currently running against Republican Mark Vafiades for the 35 District state senate seat.

Related: Democratic Primary: Losers Outspent Winners In Fairfax VA Senate Races

Sen. George Barker (D-Fairfax County), who received $10,000 from Schar on June 8, was defeated by Stella Pekarsky in the 2023 Democratic primary. Patch reported in June that Barker spent about twice as much on his campaign as his opponent and still lost.

In addition to the political contributions made by both Comstock Development Services ($132,277) and Schar ($302,500) between 2019 and 2023, Comstock Partners LC contributed to two Republican PACs in 2022, Main Street Virginia ($50,000) and Virginia Association for Commercial Real Estate ($500).

Added together, Schar, Comstock Development Services, and Comstock Partners LC contributed a total of $485,277 to candidates or political action committees between 2019 and 2023.